Falcon
Fairly well-rounded and flexible, but low total ammo |unlock = 42 |slot = 2 |price = $921,000 |mag = 20 |type = Assault Rifle |max_ammo = 80 |rate_of_fire = 700 |reload_time = 2.2 / 3.28 seconds |damage = 43 |accuracy = 10 |stability = 12 |concealment = 10 |threat = 22 }}The Falcon is a battle rifle added in the Update #30.1 along with The Big Bank heist DLC. Overview The Falcon Rifle is a high-powered precision rifle very similar to the Eagle Heavy Rifle in terms of general stats, performance, and role. Like the Eagle Heavy, it is considered the middle ground between the M308 and higher level assault rifles, such as the AMR-16 or the AK.762. As a result, it is very powerful at medium range combat. However, without extensive modification, the Falcon's long-range accuracy and stability are somewhat lacking compared to the Eagle's. Both the Falcon Rifle and Eagle Heavy do damage; compared to the Eagle, the Falcon Rifle has a higher rate of fire and slightly less accuracy. The weapon can have its damage boosted to a maximum of using all the damage-focus mods it can use (Funnel of Fun Nozzle, a Retro or Marksman Foregrip, and the Auto Fire mod), which allows it to destroy virtually anything in it's path with powerful and accurate fire. As with the Eagle, the Falcon is exceptionally good at dispatching special enemies; Tasers and Cloakers should take no more than 3-4 headshots. Bulldozers may prove more challenging, but the Falcon's accuracy over range and rate of fire up close should allow it to perform acceptably against them in any situation. One possible advantage the Falcon Rifle has is unlocking attachments; while the Eagle Heavy needs Cards to unlock certain attachments, all attachments (except muzzle extensions, trigger modifications, and scopes) available for the Falcon can be unlocked by completing certain achievements and they are all relatively cheap to install; only for each mod. Since most achievements introduced in the new update can be unlocked within a single play-through, it is not uncommon to have 4 to 5 mods unlocked by the end of a session. It is important to note that the Falcon is significantly more costly compared to the Eagle Heavy and has a reputation requirement of , offsetting the availability of its mods and perhaps making the Eagle more appealing for low-level players. One other unusual quirk of the Falcon (and Eagle Heavy, in fact) is its superior accuracy when fired from the hip compared to most other assault rifles. It should be noted, however, that both rifles also lose accuracy when crouching and firing from the hip. Its precision when using full scopes is not influenced by crouching. Summary Pros: * High damage (can easily reach or surpass 50) * Reasonably high rate of fire * Can be modded into a high-power high-accuracy battle rifle for loud missions, or a high-power high-concealment compact rifle as a 'backup' stealth weapon * Can be "reload-cancelled" for a shorter top up duration (See Tips below) and a faster raise time * Surprisingly good accuracy when fired from the hip * Is the only battle rifle that can utilize an extended magazine modification. Cons: * Subpar accuracy and poor stability without modifications and skill bonuses * Low total ammo * An expensive investment for newer players, considering the level at which it unlocks Note: ' Aside from universal mods, all mods must be unlocked by completing achievements, some of which are much harder than usual. In particular the Wooden Foregrip, the CQB Foregrip and the CQB Stock (all popular modifications in the builds below) are difficult to unlock and may require practice with a crew. By contrast, the Retro Foregrip is the easiest weapon modification to unlock and the Marksman Stock is fairly easy if you play online. That said, it may well be faster and easier to unlock all the achievements than to farm the card-drops required for many similar assault rifles, and some players may prefer a skill challenge to farming drops from a pseudo-random number generator. Whether achievement-unlocked modifications are a '''pro '''or a '''con '''depends very much on the player. Tips *The Falcon has a rather high amount of full-auto recoil, so firing in short controlled bursts is recommended. One can also switch the rifle to semi-automatic mode to circumvent the issue, but the kick up from repeated shots may still cause aiming problems. *The Falcon is generally efficient with ammo pickups, replenishing to rounds per pickup. This, combined with its low total ammo, makes replenishing the player's ammo reserve a trivial matter. The Extended Magazine is recommended if the player wants to keep on firing for longer. *The Falcon reloads surprisingly quickly for an assault rifle, even without the bonuses from Skills. This is especially noticeable if the magazine is empty - the Falcon takes almost no extra time to reload compared to most other weapons. **There is currently an exploitable trick involving the Falcon: holding down the aim button while reloading will "skip out" the last few frames of the process and automatically enter aiming mode, thus giving the player an advantage in combat. *The Falcon's base Concealment is rather low, but can be optimized with the CQB Foregrip, Tactical Grip and CQB Stock for a respectable Concealment value of . Whilst not ''the most concealable primary weapon, the Falcon can still make for a fairly powerful backup option. Builds Optimized for maximum damage * This high damage ( ) build struggles with poor accuracy for a rifle ( ), though this can be improved by adding Single Fire, especially with the Sharpshooter skill. The already poor base concealment drops to 6. (A similar Eagle Heavy build gives better accuracy for only slightly worse concealment.) ** Wooden Foregrip ( , , ) ** Funnel of Fun Nozzle ( , , ) ** Tactical Grip ( , ) ** Marksman Stock ( , , ) Balanced *This build provides a balanced rating of Damage ( ) and Stability ( ) (acing the Sharpshooter skill brings it up to ). The Accuracy rating is and the Threat level is (having Oppressor brings this up to ). Concealment is not of concern in this build ( ). ** Wooden Foregrip ( , , ) ** Tactical Grip ( , ) ** Marksman Stock ( , , ) ** Extended Magazine ( , , , ) ** Speculator Sight ( , ) ** Military Laser Module ( , ) ** Competitor's Compensator ( , , , , ) Optionally, the Wooden Foregrip could be changed for the Marksman Foregrip and the Competitor's Compensator could also be switched for the Tactical Compensator, allowing for increased accuracy (~ ) at the cost of stability. This is probably only advisable if you have the Sharpshooter (Ace) and Leadership (Ace) skills to compensate for the increased recoil. Using the Wooden Stock may also help. Optimized for Concealment *This build is purely for those who want a good concealable primary. The Concealment is , however the Accuracy is low at only . When using a suppressor it is highly recommended to have Silent Killer and The Professional aced; supplementing the damage and stability and bringing the Accuracy to . Sharpshooter, a low-level Technician skill, will also help improve accuracy if firing in semi-automatic mode. ** Tactical Grip ( , ) ** CQB Stock ( ) ** CQB Foregrip ( , , ) If the gun is intended for a dependable and solid backup weapon for when a heist goes loud, installing the Stubby Compensator grants a modest increase in damage and a decent increase in stability - this should grant a total of around damage - without compromising the concealment level. Available modifications Barrel= |-|Barrel Ext= |-|Custom= |-|Gadget= |-|Grip= |-|Magazine= |-|Sight= |drop = 9 |image = Military Red Dot (Lootbag DLC).png |slot = Sight |price = 43,000 |stability = 3 |concealment = -3 }} |-|Stock= Trivia * The Falcon Rifle was based on the DSA SA-58 OSW paratrooper variant of the Fabrique Nationale FAL battle rifle, though fitted with the full-length handguard, barrel, stock and short magazine of the standard FAL. The stamping on the left side of the weapon confirms this. **Attaching the Extended Magazine, the CQB Foregrip and CQB Stock makes it a legitimate SA-58. *** Additional modifications are based off of other FAL variants: The Retro Foregrip is that of an IMI Romat, the Israeli production FAL, and the Marksman Stock and Foregrip combo is that of the Brazilian IMBEL IA2 derivative. **The Falcon is chambered in .308 Winchester, as evident in the same set of factory stamping. This is odd, as normally none of the extant FAL derivatives uses this caliber, and while the .308 Winchester is similar to the 7.62x51mm round that the FAL actually uses, it is '''not compatible with standard NATO rifles unless extensively modded. ***Although since the Falcon is based on the DSA SA-58, which was made with civilian ownership in mind, it is plausible for this rifle to be able to handle the stronger .308 Winchester cartridge, or being able to accept modifications that allows it to. Regardless, the baseline FAL that the in-game weapon was supposed to portray cannot natively use this type of ammunition. *Despite being classified as an assault rifle in-game, in reality the FN FAL is considered a battle rifle due to the 7.62x51mm NATO full-power rifle cartridges it fires. *Despite being largely based on a metric-FAL, the fire selector switch of the Falcon belongs to the Imperial unit-based L1A1 SLR. This is unusual, as even though the L1A1 is simply a British copy of the FAL, it was redesigned based on the Imperial measurements system and thus its parts are not interchangeable with metric-based FAL variants. *The Falcon Rifle is the sole weapon introduced in the Big Bank DLC pack, and alongside the LEO of The Bomb pack, one of the only two paid DLC weapons in the series that does not have any other companions. **It is the first weapon in PAYDAY 2 to have unique mods tied to achievement progression rather than random drops. **It also has the second highest amount of unique attachments for a DLC weapon at a remarkable , surpassed only by the Gecko 7.62 rifle which has . *Update 30.3 increased the Falcon's rate of fire from to . *The original muzzle brake on the rifle can be seen to clip through any barrel attachements put onto the rifle. *The FAL was used during the armoured car robbery in the movie HEAT, a movie this game references often. It is possible to exactly replicate the version seen in the movie by adding the CQB Stock. *An FAL with a Beta-C drum magazine is also used by Chains in the John Wick trailer during his shootout with police forces. While that modification is possible on a real FAL, it is not available in-game. Gallery 2014-06-18 00003.jpg|The default Falcon rifle. 2014-06-18_00002.jpg|The Falcon with 5 mods attached (Competitor's Compensator, Tactical Grip, Marksman Stock, Wooden Foregrip, Speculator Sight). 2014-06-18 00004.jpg|The Falcon with 7 mods attached (Speculator Sight, Tactical Grip, Marksman Stock, Extended Magazine, Wooden Handguard, Competitor's Compensator, Military Laser Module) 2014-08-08 00001.jpg|The Falcon with a max concealment build (CQB Foregrip, Tactical Grip, CQB Stock, Low Profile Suppressor, and Compact Laser Module). FAL - pseudo stealth.jpeg|Ditto. Category:Assault Rifles Category:Big Bank DLC Category:Primary weapons (Payday 2)